Hearkening and heeding

These are scriptures I marked in my scriptures this morning and marked in my head.

41 Nevertheless, because those miracles were worked by small means it did show unto them marvelous works. They were slothful, and forgot to exercise their faith and diligence and then those marvelous works ceased, and they did not progress in their journey; 42 Therefore, they tarried in the wilderness, or did not travel a direct course, and were afflicted with hunger and thirst, because of their transgressions.

From the Book of Mormon lesson for today, "Hearken to the Truth, and Give Heed unto It," are the stories of Nephi's family's trials as Nephi breaks his bow and later is instructed to build a ship. The "ball, or director," the Liahona, given to Lehi by the Lord is described, and its purpose. The question is asked: What were the consequences when the people were unfaithful and disobedient?

When Nephi's bow broke (and the boys' own bows weren't in great shape, these had lost their springs), everyone, everyone murmured. Lehi complained. Nephi "did speak much unto [them]" reminding everyone to seek the Lord and His word evident upon the Liahona when they were faithful and uncomplaining. They repented and prayed for direction, and Nephi was directed to the top of a mountain where he found game and slew it and brought it home.

When Nephi received word from the Lord to build a ship and told his brothers, they called him a fool and wouldn't believe in either the instruction or that he could do it. Nephi admonished Laman and Lemuel that they “were past feeling, that [they] could not feel [the Lord’s] words.”

(See why the title of this lesson? The focus is listening to God's word and heeding it. Hearing is one thing; following, another, heeding. Hearkening is listening in the right place in us to get us to obey, heed. So far if you're considering that where best we come by God's word in our day is the scriptures, I'd say you're receiving insights I got this morning.)

Nephi told Laman and Lemuel they were past feeling and they couldn't feel the Lord's words. Here's the reminder to me: In that ↑ state, we are, the scriptures above tell us, slothful, forgetful to exercise our faith and diligence, and we do not progress in our journey; we tarry in the wilderness, or do not travel a direct course, and are afflicted with hunger and thirst. I marked these scriptures from Alma 37 in my book and my head and equated them with Nephi's family's wanderings both

• in the wilderness, murmuring, without food, and
• in deep waters upon the ship as many in the family made merry and behaved rudely and distractedly, not traveling a direct course; in fact, being blown backwards and sunk deep.

Nephi's family's choices pretty much handcuffed the Lord's blessings and guidance to them. I did mark these verses in my head and am reminded of the parallel between being past feeling, also not reading/heeding the scriptures and spiritually wandering in the wilderness in a not-direct course, hungry and thirsty.

I'm reminded of President Spencer W. Kimball's quote:

“I find that when I get casual in my relationships with divinity and when it seems that no divine ear is listening and no divine voice is speaking, that I am far, far away. If I immerse myself in the scriptures the distance narrows and the spirituality returns.” (Spencer W. Kimball "What I Hope You Will Teach My Grandchildren and All Others of the Youth of Zion," 11 July 1966. See also "The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball,"p. 135)
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Alma 37: 43 And now, my son, I would that ye should understand that these things are not without a shadow; for as our fathers were slothful to give heed to this compass (now these things were temporal) they did not prosper; even so it is with things which are spiritual. 44 For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land.

What you have given

Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received - only what you have given: a full heart, enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage. --Saint Francis of Assisi

Traditionally built and on top of your game. Or... Don't take it sitting down.

Post from January 22, 2013: Below are the last two novels so far in the "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series. Completely, wonderfully, satisfying! Botswana! Africa, Africa, Africa! Alexander McCall Smith demonstrates the depth of his affection for his memories of Botswana describing Mma Ramotswe’s thoughts as she looks toward the Kalahari desert, the darkening sky and the branches of the trees tracing a pattern...

March 11, 2014: Cast in every novel in the "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series, in this newest, the fourteenth, "The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon," beloved Botswanian friends Mma Precious Ramotswe and her associate detective, Grace Makutsi, walk arm in arm from the tiny bedroom in Mma Makutsi's house where lovingly they've viewed Grace's new baby. Mma Makutsi took off her glasses and dabbed at the lenses with a handkerchief. "My heart is full," she said.

And July 2, 2014: In Alexander McCall-Smith's "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" books set in Botswana, Africa, Mm. Makutsi's shoes talk! They call her "boss-lady" and she listens to them down on her feet and wonders all kinds of things that make her story interesting.

I'm at it again, much of the way through the 16th book in the series (God bless Alexander McCall Smith) "The Woman Who Walked Through Sunshine." Here's the hilarious scene of Mma Ramotswe coming out on top, literally, in a disagreement with a woman in her neighborhood.

There's a young boy without mother or father or place to live being cared for by this woman. She's using him, though; making him earn money in an unscrupulous way then give her the earnings, beating him when she's in a bad mood or drunk, and threatening to leave him in the bush if he doesn't work for her. Mma Ramotswe discovers this child and his tale and decides to take him away and, besides, tell the woman she's doing it!

She looks into the boy's face, him staring at her, eyes wide. "'Listen to me, Samuel,' she said. 'I am going to take you away from that lady. She is very bad. I am going to take you to another lady who is kind-kind. She will not beat you. She will give you a place in a room that is very clean. There will be other children who will be your brothers and your sisters.'"

"Samuel was mute."

"'I am telling you, Samuel,' she continued. 'There is a good place for you. I shall take you there in this van, straightaway after we have seen this bad lady.'"

"He gasped. 'But you must not call her that, Mma. She is not a bad lady. She will beat you.'"

"Mma Ramotswe tried not to laugh. 'Will she?' she asked. 'I do not think she should try, Samuel. It is I who will beat her if she tries anything. I am a traditionally built lady, you know, and if there are any bad people who try to push me around – or to beat me – then I can sit on them very quickly. And if I do that, then they cannot breathe – all the air goes out of their lungs and they cry out, I am not fighting any more, Mma.'"

They go. They drive to the lady's house and Mma Ramotswe gets in the front door and comes right to the point: "'There is a boy called Samuel. I have just met him.'"

The woman sneers, "'Yes, there is that boy, so what? I am looking after him.'"

Sharp responses as Mma Ramotswe confronts the woman with treating the boy badly."'How dare you! You watch your tongue...'" the woman flings back. Mma R., "'But my tongue has some more things to say, Mma. I am taking that boy away from you!'" Then,"'You are not taking that boy! He is mine. You are not taking him, you big cow!'" The neighbor hurls the insult and scratches Mma Ramotswe across the neck.

(Ha!) Mma Ramotswe pushes her weight against the other woman. "It happened as if rehearsed one hundred times. As Mma Ramotswe's superior weight came to bear on her, the woman was momentarily unbalanced, and then, almost in slow motion, fell to the floor. Without waiting, Mma Ramotswe lowered herself to sit upon her opponent. It always worked; it always worked."

Now, the woman on the bottom gasping and begging, Mma R. on top offering oodles of time for her to consider what she'll say if this corruptness has to be brought before the police. "'Have you thought about all that, Mma?'" she asks. And the answer from below, the woman winded, 'I have thought about it. You can take him.'"

"Mma Ramotswe rose to her feet, allowing the woman beneath her to gasp for air and re-inflate. She did not enjoy sitting on people, but every so often it was necessary, and in this case it was entirely justified by self defense. If people came at you and started to scratch you, then of course you had the right to sit on them."

What I believe

The voice of the righteous from "out of the dust" to a prophet on the earth in our time authorized from above by divine Priesthood authority.
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David Habben "HABBENINK" (link) is an artist and illustrator based in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. His work can be found in children's books, interactive campaigns, apparel, and galleries throughout the world.

Standin' around

Marcia wheeled her car into my driveway a few mornings ago bringing me home from the rec center and, whoa! You can't tell it in this ↓ pic... nope... but standing right next to the front window practically on the front porch munching our bushes were these two characters. Nope, you can't tell it because they moved off toward the neighbor's as we pulled in.



And stayed just, um, looking at us as I got the car window down and pulled out my phone. All the time in the world. Hurry, hurry, Marcia was saying as the deer watched. Complete trance. We sure figured they'd bolt!



Zoom-zoom of my camera lens. Deer still there. Not even a tail-twitch. Photo op.

We have a work to do

Good lesson in YW Sunday. It was led by a member of the Stake Presidency who drew our attention to

1.     The Mutual Theme for the year, 2 Ne: 31:20:

Wherefore, ye must PRESS FORWARD with a steadfastness in Christ, 
having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.
Wherefore, IF YOU SHALL PRESS FORWARD,
feasting upon the word of Christ,
and endure to the end,
behold, thus saith the Father:
YE SHALL HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.

We talked about what pressing forward means. Trying, not quitting trying.
About the "if," "then" in this scripture: an invitation with a promise.
We focused on that blessing most prized by our Father in Heaven for us, life as He is and Life with Him. Exaltation.

He next drew us to what we'd recited at the beginning of class,

2.     The Young Women Theme :

We are daughters of our Heavenly Father,
who loves us, and we love Him. 
We will "stand as witnesses of God 
at all times and in all things, and in all places” 
as we STRIVE to live the Young Women values, which are:

Faith • Divine Nature • Individual Worth • Knowledge • Choice and Accountability • Good Works • Integrity • and Virtue

We believe AS WE COME TO ACCEPT AND ACT UPON THESE VALUES, 
we WILL be prepared to strengthen home and family, 
make and keep sacred covenants, 
receive the ordinances of the temple, 
and ENJOY THE BLESSINGS OF EXALTATION.

We talked about what striving means.Trying, not quitting trying.
We talked about will means. Absolute, done. Pau. (Hawaiian: pronounced "pow." To finish, or be finished; done.)
We learned how "as" we strive, "then" we will. Pau! We WILL!!!!
We understood our preparation to receive the blessing most prized by Father in Heaven for us, exaltation.
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It is impossible for even one of us human beings, each of whom is “nothing” according to Ammon (see Alma 26:12), to return to celestial glory and eternal life without our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. We do not have the power to return. We have a work to do. We must exert effort and press forward through the challenges of life, staying true to the gospel of Jesus Christ and His restored Church.

Hiking in Snow Canyon

As we stayed with friends in St. George a couple of days this past week we kept up front on our itinerary getting into the southern sunshine! There's plenty of it here, or has been for a few extraordinary days in January! It was turning cool and cloudy as we left (one day after these pictures) so you be the judge!



Our friends drove us into Snow canyon to one of their best mini-hikes, promising they'd take us on a long hike right after. We scaled the face of this mound, pretty high up but a gentle climb.



It's "steps" from bottom to top...



... and the rock is pimpled and pocked pretty much all over. I can't decide if it's all breathtakingly beautiful...



... or achingly, awfully, ugly! If you love red rock, you'd love this place!

We descended and drove to a trail head that put us on track toward Johnson Arch Canyon. Lava rock lines the soft sand trail and dots, in shards and clusters further along, the virtually flat land leading to the mouth of the canyon ↓.



Looking back the way we came I better sensed the depth of the lava-filled gorge alongside us.



We turned into the canyon. Man this place is crazy beautiful!



Not to mention the sky.



The complementary colors! It's hard to tell in these pics from my phone but the sage was an intense blue-green, exploding with vitality for this time of the year, our friends couldn't believe it; we couldn't get enough of it... the color the exact opposite (the complement, indeed) of the iron-oxide rock.



For January, vivid greens upon not only the sage but other brush and in the trees. See the dark green  in the center of the pic?

Look again... see the arch? Left of center?



Sunlight coming into the opening...?



You feel pretty small beside these monoliths.

What I couldn't immediately see is that this is a box canyon. The beauty is insane. The day was perfect, in the forties, sweater weather, and I hiked in shirt sleeves soaking up sunshine! After two and a half snow-months at home, the sunshine-day felt a-mazing!



You wanted to whisper in the presence of these giants, and we did. When we talked above that the sounds echoed and bounced – I loved the sensation; I've only read about it in Louie L'Amour westerns.



We poked around in the sand and soft puddles at the cul-de-sac, the sunshine blocked by the three immense cliffs. Oooh, decidedly dim in here, and overwhelming suddenly... I'd hate to be in this nook and cranny after dark. We poked around a bit feeling our nothingness and the world's awesomeness (or maybe it was just me)...



and skedaddled out.



Here's facing the way we'd come. There's the bright world yonder!



Out (oh what a morning!) and to the car.

Cultivate a good life and record it

I was checking Becky Higgins (link), a published scrapbooker whose books I read forever ago about paper and digital scrapbooking and journaling. One post on her blog has a guest recounting things very important to her...

Project Life has taught me to cherish the many blessings in my life that are so abundantly clear when I take the time to record them.

The phrase "when I take the time to record" sticks out to me. Of all that... not so much cherish, not blessings, nor abundantly clear. (Pretty darn important!) This thing: time to record.

Taking time to record.

Any day, week and month I'm managing important things. I'm about average with my work/play/service/rest load; eh, no more, no less than you. Like you I struggle to balance it. What I deem most important I do take time for – it goes like that. It goes like that for all of us. The trick is in figuring that out: what I deem most important.

Six months ago I left off daily journaling and three months later I stopped blogging. And I miss it – I miss it all. I started blogging again though recently ugh I haven't been near a working computer so here's a gap of several days. Never mind. I miss it too much to let more than about a week go by. I hadn't decided I guess back then if blogging and daily journaling fall in the catergory of "everything has a life," you know, these things come to their natural end... or the category of "press forward saints! With steadfast faith in Christ (surely)," it thus enduring to the end of my life. The trick is in figuring that out.

These prompts ↓ from the guest blogger are today reminders for me to make full time record-keeping weigh important (get it?). Reminders to (maybe take a break) (stop and start a bit) (deliberate) find something that works, really works, to, supplemented by my health and strength and faith and commitment, keep me taking time to record.

*What moment did I cherish today?
*When I am old what do I want to remember about now?
*What story does this photo tell?
*What am I thankful for?
*My three G’s [grace, goals, and gratitude]...
*This was fun and I want to remember this!
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Here's Leigh Ann Odynski, Becky's guest.  Here's her philosophy... I'm glad I read it and can pass it on.

My Lord and Savior, Project Life, documenting and journaling about even just one good thing per day, and our photos have all been essential in the past six years. They have allowed me to focus on the everyday blessings, what I have instead of what I lost, hope instead of despair, joy that lies not in my circumstances, and peace that surpasses all understanding. We all have struggles, they just take different forms. They could be physical, emotional, financial, loss, trials, relational, and many more, but the act of acknowledging, journaling, and recording even just one positive thing each day can help.

As Becky’s motto says,

His business

Stop trying to protect, to rescue, to judge, to manage the lives around you; remember that the lives of others are not your business. They are their business. They are God’s business—even your own life is not your business. It is also God’s business! Frederick Buechner

← I'm considering this. I'm thinking about it...

Okay, my journey is mine and mine to choose and mine to walk and mine to have the consequences for.

Though in my life I haven't dismissed what's come to me by others as protection, rescue, judgment or management, particularly when it's edifying critical feedback, authoritative counsel, sound Christian doctrine, or healthy role modeling. Especially have I appreciated encouraging good humor! I do stiff-arm hyper-inquisitiveness; certainly the fish-bowl, ugh, when persons gawk or fish.

I can be stung by any person's dismissal of me... as Jenny has commented, being made to feel invisible. I say being made to feel dumb. All feels unlovable.

How true that people won't – simply can't – understand another's journey. I'm considering "people around you won't understand your journey" and, okay, it's NOT for them: I'll buy in. And that I, in the same vein, should do less of assuming to protect, rescue, judge and manage the lives of, well, you. You who (like me, and I claim that right) have your way of choosing and your consequences. Your life is not my business. It's definitely yours. And truly, so truly do I believe it is our God's in the heaven who made you. And me. I'm very grateful His work and His glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of us each. Yours and my life in every detail are His business.
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I never stop praying though that I can understand you.

Puzzle mania

As I write Kent is bringing the contents of this computer onto a new computer so I can't spend much time here until the transfer's done. I'm whiling away some of my discretionary time making a new puzzle. I finished this one...



... my second vintage-cereal-box-puzzle in a few months... way fun!... and crumbled it up the other day and put it away. So I pulled out one I've had on the shelf half a year. Got it from DI for $1 and am thinking it's about the most different puzzle I've made in my life.



Like, ever. Puzzlestix... puzzle sticks. Who knew! Anyway, it was too good to pass up (see the DI price sticker right in the middle. Ha! $1!) and I brought it home and now I'm thinking it's about the funnest one I've ever done!

I got the pieces out last night. You pretty much look for border pieces first, though I gave up here as there's no telling which are border (especially) and which are not, 'less you look super-carefully and I wasn't in a super-careful mood. I gathered pieces hand over fist out of the box in colors and patterns that matched and made piles.



And look how much I managed in an hour and a half, and some this morning! Puzzle sticks can go every which way: up and down and back and forth and diagonally. Kind of throws you around, makes you work so you don't start just slapping pieces down.



Last winter I kind of had puzzle mania. This winter I'm possibly headed there again.

Proverb

Fiddled with

Hot chocolate... can we go there? Can we revisit this post (link) from six-plus years ago? Because that's when I made up my own recipe for hot chocolate that I practically live and die by. (Pray God I don't, well, die by it, 'k? I just mean wow it's good!)

You'll laugh when you understand that exactly a year after I posted this in November 2009 I was packing my house in Georgia to be put lock-stock-and-barrel into a moving truck and hoisted cross-the-country to here. Rooms were bare but for sealed, labeled, stacked boxes atop which (in a few rooms) were open boxes that still needed filling. In my dining room on a stack in such a box rested a shoe box packed with my hot chocolate ingredients (and the Magic Bullet and measuring spoons and a drinking cup). These wouldn't go on the truck, no J; in the car with us in case I would want to make hot cocoa in hotel rooms or later at mom and dad's where we'd stay til we could move into our house, or finally on one of the stark, dark evenings here without Kent (he flew to Georgia for three weeks to finish working a week after we'd moved in...). Just in case.

You'll laugh at that nonsense! You'll roll your eyes that I carted these same ingredients along this past November on our trip to Arkansas in a double-bagged Smith's grocery sack tied in a knot. And the Bullet, and a cup. Of course Dana with her cupboard full of cups really DID roll her eyes when she saw I'd brought one from home. I did. I had to! Every winter I get bright-eyed at the idea of hot chocolate. At the TASTE of hot chocolate – MY hot chocolate. In My cup of generous size. I'd FaceTimed Brad earlier saying I was bringing something special to share with his kids, which made him happy. You gotta know: They all loved it and asked for chocolate every day.

Can we revisit the recipe here, 'cause over the years I've messed around with it. I've tried a variety of creamers including Cinnamon Creme, French Vanilla, Hazelnut and Vanilla Caramel. Love em! I've stopped using Nestle's Nesquik, opting for Walden Farms Zero-Calorie Chocolate Syrup. I've stuck with cinnamon in every batch (heaven) though recently I've discovered Mexican chocolate mix with that already in it and've started subbing a tablespoon in with the Hershey's Special Dark. I've decreased powdered sugar by a tablespoon and increased the vanilla, it's so good in this drink; and gently increased the malted milk powder, so good! I know my recipe by heart, ten ingredients – water, vanilla, powdered sugar, powdered milk, creamer, malted milk powder, Special Dark cocoa, Zero-calorie Chocolate Syrup, cinnamon and sea salt – and do fiddle with it a bunch.

Mmm, gone. Didn't think to take a picture BEFORE I drank this morning's cuppa. Kind'a foolish... give me a big old eye roll!



Dang delicious! Here's the recipe ↓ (revisited), a few of the ingredients and amounts slightly, mm, fiddled with. Enjoy!

(P.S.: Couple'a weeks later... even more fiddled with... now I'm adding a teaspoon of coconut oil right into my cup. Nutritious, delicious, silky... the coconut taste rounds out the chocolaty-cinnamony goodness. 11 ingredients now, a work in progress!)

Nat's Favorite Hot Chocolate, one mug
2 Tbsp. powdered milk
2 Tbsp. non-dairy creamer, any flavor
1 or 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar, optional
3/4 Tbsp. malted milk powder, or more to taste
2 Tbsp. Special Dark Hershey's Cocoa, Dutch-processed; or 1 Tbsp., and 1 Tbsp. Mexican Chocolate powder, Nestle Abuelita
2 Tbsp. NesQuik Chocolate Flavor or, lately, Walden Farms Zero-Calorie chocolate syrup
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. cinnamon to taste (adjust if using Mexican chocolate)
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Pinch of fine sea salt
1 tsp. coconut oil, if desired
8 oz. water

I blend ingredients in the Bullet, then heat in the microwave.

"I love you, love wisdom"

I read through a post from back in November on a blog I go to sometimes for uplift, Susie Davis (link)... here's "about" her: I married my high school sweetheart, Will Davis Jr. We’ve been married and in ministry over thirty years. We co-founded Austin Christian Fellowship where we still love teaching at our weekend services.


I like her thinking and writing style. In this post DEAR DAUGHTER ~ LOVE WISDOM she's thrilled her youngest, a college senior, is saying she'll fly away from home to do a concert-slash-hiking experience. Though she admits she's freaking about her girl roaming BIG Yosemite (Yosemite is a big park … lions, tigers and bears. OH MY!) on her own.  (With a few others, truly, so on their own.) Well, no … not tigers. But even worse … creepers! Yosemite creepers. OH MY!

It was then I reminded myself that it was FEAR talking to me, making me freak out about stuff that hasn’t even happened. FEAR telling me to hyper-control. To ruin my daughter’s trip with all kinds of motherly advice like:

BE CAREFUL!
WATCH OUT FOR CREEPERS AND BEARS!!!
MAYBE YOU SHOULDN’T GO ON A YOSEMITE ADVENTURE!

Here's what I love in this post:

...before I said those adventure wrecking words to her, instead of letting FEAR freak me out I said something kinda wonderful. Here’s what I said,

Sara…that is so exciting. To get to camp and hike in Yosemite. Wow. What an opportunity! I do have a tiny favor. When you’re on your trip will you LOVE WISDOM? Because I love you SO much. And all throughout that trip you’ll have lots of opportunities to LOVE WISDOM while you’re making decisions. The great thing about WISDOM is that she will guide you to smart choices.I love you. Love wisdom.

Sara "said sure mom, I'll love wisdom and I'll make good decisions." Her mother concludes (and boy do I want this for me and all the people that have to hear me talk, yeah):

For so long, I was a ‘I-love-you-be-careful‘ kind of mother. But then I realized in saying that, I was inadvertently training my kids to fear.

I want to be a ‘I-love-you-love-wisdom’ kind of mother.

Get together

Marcia came up with the idea before Christmas of a family party for after the holidays. She called around to some of the cousins to see if they'd commit to get babysitters and drive a long way to our neighborhood to enjoy an evening of adults and even older-adults (us!). Two of our young marrieds have newish babies so they'd come too... we'd try to put 30-plus people into Marcia's house to eat GOOD, talk hard and celebrate FAMILY!



It worked. The commitment I mean from the get-go was the thing! Nine or ten young families all said yes, even my youngest just home from the honeymoon! So Marcia thought up a menu and e-mailed a party flyer which pretty much got everyone's commitment on the calendar.

By the time we snapped this picture ↓ two hours into the get-together we were full as ticks with honey-lime enchiladas, cilantro rice, chips and salsa and a vast variety of fruits and desserts. I'd rubbed my stomach and rolled my eyes and groaned taking my dinner plate to the sink but I did gently indulge in chocolate mint ice cream. We all did.



Another hour we hung around, then the kids starting saying they should get home to their kids, throwing on coats and hats and boots and hugging and kissing goodbye (well maybe not Chris's Ben like kissin' nor nothin' but I got a bear hug from Stan)... chatter and laughter down the stairs and to the front door and in the driveway at the last... and Marcia and Brent and Kent and I divvied up food and took down the party.

I don't know what you did with your Saturday recently, but mine was about helping my sister make a dream and a focus of hers come true. She is, much like our dad, a plow in the field. She cuts through the top layers of most anything and noses her way in a straight line to an end result: often, virtually always, creating a safe, fertile place for good things to happen, a good, a great "climate for growth."

I've known it to involve enchiladas plenty of times which, this Saturday, it did, and involved me alongside her. We gathered food from our houses on Friday, cleaning out our fridges and freezers, then shopped for the rest. She cooked chicken for 60 enchiladas and shredded that Friday afternoon. Saturday morning early she organized six bags of chicken in marinade, one portion per pan of ten we intended to bake, then after lunch together we prepped pico de gallo, guacamole, and the sauce for the cilantro rice. At 4:00 we rolled the enchiladas into six pans, what turned out to be for 30-plus folks only a bit more than just right, and by 5:00 p.m. set these in ovens at my house and hers. We put rice and cilantro sauce in three rice cookers then and whoa did her house smell good! We waited for our family and the rest of the food to come.

Plowin' in a straight line! Marcia's the maker-of-things-to-happen and to-be-good... and I happen to be coming right alongside, itself a good thing. I'm learning. 'T'was a good Saturday where we – oh so many of us – did celebrate FAMILY!

Happy Birthday Chris today, by the way!

From our YW class yesterday

One of our young women recited this from President Gordon B. Hinckley: "That knowledge comes from the word of scripture, and that testimony comes by the power of the Holy Ghost" ("The Father, Son and Holy Ghost" October 1986) (link). President Hinckley was sharing his knowledge and certainty of the existence and divinity of the Father and Son and reality of the Holy Ghost in whom he believes "as a personage of spirit who occupies a place with the Father and the Son, these three comprising the divine Godhead."

It's logical, isn't it, how knowing comes from reading scripture. Getting acquainted with God and Godliness and the word of God happens through that medium. Certainty within us, knowing our knowing is sure, comes by revelation from the Holy Ghost – that personage of spirit body, not flesh and bones like the Father and Son – who transmits that certainty or testimony to us by the medium of The Spirit. The Spirit is NOT the Holy Ghost, but is a heavenly mode of communication, the mainstream of light and truth by which all things were and are formed and do operate and which the Godhead has everlastingly at its disposal; which mankind also has access to here upon principles of righteousness.

It's logical, and my (spaghetti bowl) brain straightened up hearing Sophie quote President Hinckley. GOOD motivation to keep reading the scriptures!



And praying!

Recap

DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING
Oh how we loved being with our kids this long week around Thanksgiving!

This picture below I kind of want you to play "I spy with my little eye" with for a minute, can you? See what I see? Orange and red on the mantle next to the red and green of the Christmas tree and skirt. The vacuum cleaner out, super unattractive. Brad FaceTiming Jenny while his kids pull out ornaments and start hanging. A section of lights missing at the back of the Christmas tree, what?



Garrett joins up.



Jillian, besides. Vacuum cleaner migrates.



Brad too, now... he's hung something at the tippy-top in the last few minutes and taken my best counsel about the lights not working.



Dana's hunting boxes of Christmas decorations for the mantle... autumn leaves still adorn the fireplace.



Time lapse... winter decorations are now on the mantle, stockings are hung, the floor and carpet re-vacuumed, boxes are (almost) put away, and the wild-child's hair is combed! Not only just, but braided! Dad has sat back down and, yes, lights are still out at the back of the tree. (It's what the back of the tree's for, right?)